Missouri Baptist Children’s Home (MBCH) is engaged with tragic stories of families or children from hard places. There are children impacted by abuse or neglect, adults dealing with substance abuse issues or domestic abuse situations, struggling marriages and families on the verge of collapse. Often these children and families are found right in your community. Have you ever wondered what you can do to make a difference? Sometimes you see the people in your church who are hurting but … [Read more...]
What should you remember when you are the minority in a monumental decision?
You don’t lead very long until you experience an opportunity to be a minority voice in the context of a monumental decision. You study and work hard to find amenable solutions, but the majority chooses to follow a course with which you disagree. Many times, people in the minority simply walk away . . . angry. In the context of church life, I have witnessed through the years a multiplicity of inappropriate actions and attitudes. Sometimes people in the minority sour and express themselves … [Read more...]
Labelling Missouri parents as domestic terrorists?
On Oct. 4, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland wrote a memorandum threatening to mobilize federal law enforcement because parents are expressing their opinions at taxpayer-funded school board meetings. (I apologize for knocking you off your feet.) This provocation crosses a line rarely – if ever – seen on American soil. Missouri parents, bet you never thought you would be on the FBI’s “Most Wanted” list. Alas, this should not surprise us. The God-dishonoring, collectivists have been … [Read more...]
An open letter from John Yeats on the SBC Executive Committee’s Oct. 5th decision
Colleagues: I trust the Lord is demonstrating the depth of His grace toward you in such a fashion that you have a sense of His abiding presence. I shared with you last week about the SBC Executive Committee’s concerns. The 2021 SBC Annual Meeting messengers spoke clearly when they called for the establishment of a Sexual Abuse Task Force and a transparent, thorough, and independent investigation into allegations of sexual abuse involving the Executive Committee and its staff over the … [Read more...]
Plan ahead for Pastor Appreciation in October
In Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Unchartered Territory, author Tod Bolsinger tells about a 90-year-old woman in a church he pastored in California. Her name was Ruth. He says she was a real treasure. “Boy,” she said (she was one of the few people in the church who could get away with calling Dr. Bolsinger “Boy’). She said, “I pray for you every day.” Bolsinger said, “Thank you, Ruth. That means a lot to me. I can use the prayers. You know all these changes we are … [Read more...]
Abortionists are nervous ‘cats’ due to revamped federal courts
It feels like America is wobbling. We abandoned fellow Americans and our allies in the botched Afghanistan withdrawal/surrender. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff appears to have committed treason while undermining the Commander-In-Chief (the President). With Marxist ideas like Critical Theory and the “1619 Project,” our children are taught to hate America – and each other. The National Archives, which houses our founding documents, has placed “harmful content” labels on the U.S. … [Read more...]
Humility builds unity
Christians are called to be different from the world. Our interactions with one another ought to look decidedly different from the world’s interactions. Few actions blemish the name of Christ more than Christians uncharitably engaging one another. I recently observed an interaction on social media between a self-professed Christian speaking about the “other side” in a vaccination debate. Though this was a Christian speaking specifically about other Christians, the language was presumptuous, … [Read more...]
Will the real neighbors please stand up, Sept. 28?
The planning is almost over. It is nearly time for residents to begin hosting parties and doing good deeds for their neighbors as part of National Good Neighbor Day on Sept. 28. Some neighbors will be setting up a canopy in the yard in a few days, firing up the grill, and hosting block parties for their nearest neighbors. With all the rush of summer and a new school year underway, this is a good time of year to ask, will the real neighbors please stand up? A real neighbor understands the … [Read more...]
Banking on the Bible
My debit card. I don’t even want to tell you how reliant I am on that thing. One day a few years back I couldn’t find my card anywhere. I looked for it all day. Even by the next morning, still no trace. I searched high and low, near and far. I even searched under the sofa cushions. That was a little scary. I found 37 cents, three marbles, a T shirt (how had we ignored that lump?), seven M & M’s, my favorite sunglasses, and the TV remote (hey, we’d been looking for that). But no … [Read more...]
The unstoppable Mrs. Brown
Many of you are familiar, I suppose, with “the unsinkable Molly Brown.” A century ago, she was well known for surviving the Titanic sinking and famously threatening the crewman in charge of lifeboat #6 to return to look for other survivors. She, of course, was born in Hannibal, Mo., as Margaret Tobin. At age 18, she moved to Colorado, where she met and married a poor man out of love. That poor man, JJ Brown, struck it rich in mining and catapulted Mrs. Brown to a life of affluence, … [Read more...]
Words have meaning
Of late, I have been stricken once again by how valuable words are. My wife Sharon thinks that hearing from my lips the words, “I love you,” are very important to say at the start of the day. These days, I’m not sure how common it is to teach the young the two little magic phrases, “Please” and “Thank you.” I do know that a grateful heart is often associated with these words. Gratefulness and humility are always in vogue no matter the context of a person’s experience. The other day, I … [Read more...]
Two decades after 9/11, hope still found at the cross
Amid the tragic events of 9/11, many of us were dumbfounded by human depravity as we watched violent men, out of hatred and spiritual blindness, kill nearly 3,000 men, women and children. Yet many of us were also speechless when we caught glimpses of the splendor and nobility of humanity. We witnessed the depth of human wickedness on 9/11, represented by the terrorists who attacked the United States. But we also saw the greatest virtues of humanity, represented by the selfless heroes who … [Read more...]
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